The
next transportation program must set about the urgent task of repairing
and maintaining our existing transportation assets, building a more
well-rounded transportation network, and making our current system work
more efficiently and safely to create complete and healthy communities.
It should invest in modern and affordable public transportation, safe
places to walk and bicycle, smarter highways that use technology and
tolling to better manage congestion, long-distance rail networks, and
land use policies that reduce travel demand by locating more affordable
housing near jobs and services. And it should put us on the path
towards a stronger national future by helping us reduce our oil
dependency, slow climate change, improve social equity, enhance public
health, and fashion a vibrant new economy.

Getting there
from here will require some significant reforms. To meet these goals,
the T4 America coalition offers four main recommendations for the
upcoming transportation authorization bill:

Develop a New National Transportation Vision with Objectives and Accountability for Meeting Performance Targets.

Restructure Federal Transportation Programs and Funding to Support the New National Transportation Vision and Objectives.

Reform Transportation Agencies and theDecision-making Process.

Revise Transportation Finance So We Can Pay for Needed Investments.

This
transportation bill is going to be of crucial importance to all the
issues we discuss on this site on a regular basis. The T4A report
provides a great overview of the key points on which advocates can push
for reform. Take a look.